Lingering Garden

May 7th, 2005

The Lingering Gardens in Sozhou were named because they linger between earth and heaven. After researching the Garden on the internet, I discovered that it was built-in 1583 and is considered to be the top Garden in Sozhou and in the top four in all of China. Much has been written about the garden and the artistic way in which the spaces between various kinds of architectural forms are dealt with.

The Garden has a web-site www.gardenly.com that has a lot more information.  I found the garden peaceful and relaxing. While we wandered through the garden, there was a girl playing and singing traditional Chinese music.  We have Gardens in the USA, but nothing like this.

There was an extensive Bonsai collection.  We were told that Bonsai originated in China, I thought I remember being told that it had originated in Japan.